Few days to the Kogi state governorship election, a socio-political group in Kogi State, the Kogi Liberation Front (KLF), has raised the alarm over plot to cause a total breakdown of law and order in Kogi East senatorial district.
The group said the move was meant to scare voters in the axis and reduce the voting strength of the district.
The group said it got wind of the plan to transfer the Divisional Police Officers (DPO) in Kogi East and especially that of Dekina Local Government, Mr Ademu Idi, following his refusal to obey an order to release loaded with pump action rifles, which the police impounded on Wednesday.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Musa Wada, is from the Kogi east axis of the state.
The group flayed the alleged connivance between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some security agencies, warning the police and other security agencies not to pander to the tendencies of desperate politicians, so as not to throw Kogi State into crisis.
The group added that reports and developments in Kogi east were beginning to show that the APC, which it accused of demonstrating unbridled and wanton desperation to win the November 16, 2019 governorship election at all costs, would do anything to frustrate the electorate in the district with 51.4 per cent of the state’s voting population from exercising their franchise.
The statement read, “We know that credible elections are to be determined on the basis of one man one vote. Emerging trends appear to the effect that the APC in Kogi is not prepared to live by this truism.
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“We note with sadness the connivance between the APC and the police to transfer Mr Ademu Idi, the DPO of Dekina Local Government two days after his men impounded an arms-laden APC vehicle and a day after he refused to release the impounded vehicle following an ‘order from above.’
“We warn the security agencies not to allow themselves to become weapons in the hands of a sinking government against the people of Kogi East while calling on civil society groups and international organisations to beam their search-light on Kogi state ahead of the election.
“It should be on record that developments and reports from Kogi state suggest that the APC is desperate to win the election at all cost or at best, thrown the zone with the highest voting population into confusion and thereby reduce the voting strength.
“We will like to point out that any attempt to cause violence and disorder in Kogi east or any other part of the state by the APC will not be condoned. We demand that our people be allowed to decide their leader in a free and fair atmosphere. Anything short of this is an invitation to a crisis”.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), William Aya, said political parties should concentrate on their campaigns and should not drag the command and the commissioner into their contest.
He said the police in the state have been providing security for all the parties that are participating in the election, denying the allegation of bias by the PDP.
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